A cataclysm in the 24th century throws two ships back in time to the 23rd century, altering the course of history. With a different life where he never knew his father, James T. Kirk becomes a brilliant yet cynical misfit who is finally convinced to join Starfleet by Captain Christopher Pike in 2255. Three years later, Kirk, Vulcan First Officer Spock, and the young crew of the new USS Enterprise, with guidance from Spock's future self, must figure out a way to work together to prevent the one responsible for the death of Kirk's father, the future Romulan known as Nero, from destroying the Federation in a mad quest for vengeance.

Robau is taken to Nero, while the crew of the Kelvin monitors his life signs. Ayel interrogates him first about a particular ship, which Robau does not recognize, and then about the whereabouts of AmbassadorSpock, with whom Robau is also unfamiliar. Robau reveals the stardate; the Romulans have ended up 150 Earth years in the past. Realizing that they will not get the answers they want out of Robau, he is killed by Nero himself and the Narada recommences its attack on the Kelvin. Kirk orders the Kelvin to return fire but as the situation worsens and he realizes that the damage to the Kelvin is compromising the lives and safety of everyone, he orders the crew to escape pods and shuttles, including his wife Winona, who is about to give birth.

Kirk tries to plot a collision course with the Narada, but the ship's autopilot navigation is offline. The commander makes the sad realization that he will need to control the Kelvin himself. He orders his wife to leave on the shuttle without him. She protests, but Kirk knows that he has no choice but to stay behind and continue the attack in order to protect his wife and child and the others. On the shuttlecraft, Winona Kirk gives birth to a baby boy. As the Kelvin destroys the missiles aimed at the shuttles, Kirk can hear his newborn's cries, realizing that he will never meet his son. Just before the Kelvin is about to collide with the Romulan vessel, Kirk asks Winona what they should name their son. She suggests naming him after George's father, but he laughs the suggestion off, saying that "Tiberius" isn't much of a first name. They decide to name him "Jim", after Winona's father. Communication is cut off as the Kelvin smashes into the Narada, temporarily crippling it and giving the shuttles time to escape.

Kirk as a child

Spock as a child

Approximately 10 years later, around the early to mid-2240s, a young boy is seen racing down the road in an antique Corvette across the open Iowa landscape, blasting 20th centurymusic. Soon, a policeman on a flying motorbike chases him, ordering the boy to stop the car. Evading the officer, Kirk heads for a quarry and jumps out of the car, moments before it speeds over the edge and crashes on the canyon floor below. The policeman apprehends the boy who defiantly identifies himself as "James Tiberius Kirk".

Around the same time on Vulcan, a young Spock is being tormented by his peers about his mixed heritage. The boys call his father a traitor for marrying a Human "whore". The three have previously failed 34 times to invoke an emotional response in Spock, but this time they take it too far and Spock knocks one of the older boys into a skill dome and beats him in an emotional rage. He is later gently admonished by his father, Sarek, who is disappointed at his son's lack of emotional control. When Spock asks of his father why he married his mother, Sarek coldly replies that it was the logical choice.

Years later, Spock is conflicted about whether to participate in the kolinahr, the Vulcan ritual aimed at purging all vestigial emotions. He talks to his mother, Amanda Grayson, who tells him that she will always be proud of him, no matter what he decides. Later, Spock stands before a committee on Vulcan. The committee informs him of his acceptance into the Vulcan Science Academy and commends his accomplishments despite his "disadvantage" of being half-Human. In response to yet another underhanded insult on his heritage, Spock declines the offer of admission, stating that he has decided to enter Starfleet Academy instead. The committee expresses shock, as the offer of admission to the Vulcan Science Academy is one that no Vulcan has ever turned down – to which Spock replies that, as he isn't a real Vulcan, that statement is still accurate. Spock leaves and with a tinge of anger in his voice, tells the committee to "live long and prosper".

Spock defies the Vulcan elders

Pike discovers Kirk in the bar

In 2255, in a bar in Iowa, a young Academy cadet named Uhura meets up with some friends, and while ordering drinks, a brash and intoxicated James Kirk introduces himself to her and offers to buy her a drink. His attempts at flirting with her are unsuccessful, however, and the situation escalates when three Starfleet recruits intervene and end up in a fight during which Kirk is badly beaten. Fortunately for him, Captain Christopher Pike steps in and ends the fight. Pike, who is very familiar with Kirk's tragic past and the accomplishment of his father, having written his Academy dissertation about the Kelvin, sits down with him, trying to talk some sense into the rebellious young man by trying to persuade him to join Starfleet. Pike firmly believes that with his aptitude, Kirk can do more with himself than get into bar fights and be "the only genius-level repeat offender in the Midwest." Kirk doesn't want to hear it and laughs at the idea of joining Starfleet. Pike ends the conversation with a reminder that Kirk's father saved eight hundred lives in the course of just twelve minutes of command and challenges Kirk to do better.

Kirk accepts Pike's offer

Early the next day, Kirk heads to Riverside Shipyard in his motorcycle, where the USS Enterprise is under construction. Pike is surprised to see Kirk turn up to join the new recruits. Before boarding, Kirk smugly tells Pike that he'll graduate in three years instead of four. On the recruit shuttle, he meets Leonard McCoy – a recently divorced, disgruntled recruit who dismisses Starfleet technology with smug pessimism. The two share a drink as the shuttlecraft leaves for the Academy in San Francisco.

Three years later, the Narada is waiting at an unknown part of space. Nero is called to the bridge by Ayel. Suddenly, a black hole temporal disturbance appears and a small starship flies out of the anomaly. Nero recognizes and welcomes the appearance of Ambassador Spock, and orders the ship to be captured.

Kirk has an encounter with Gaila

Meanwhile, at Starfleet Academy, Kirk is telling McCoy that he is taking the Kobayashi Maru test again the next day, and is certain he will pass it. McCoy is shocked at Kirk's confidence, as no one has ever passed the test, much less repeated it. However, Kirk is convinced that he will nail it and leaves to "study", which for him means an assignation with an Orion cadet named Gaila in her dorm room. Suddenly, Gaila's roommate enters and Kirk is forced to hide under the bed. He is mortified to find that the roommate is Uhura. Undressing down to her underwear, she describes to Gaila decoding Klingon transmissions about 47 battle cruisers destroyed near a prison planet. She hears him breathing however, and eventually discovers him and angrily kicks him out.

Kirk during the Kobayashi Maru test

The next day, Kirk, McCoy, Uhura, and a few other Starfleet recruits are in the Kobayashi Maru simulation test on Kirk's third attempt. Kirk takes a comically casual approach to the test, including eating an apple. Everything goes as planned when, unexpectedly, the power systems momentarily fail, and then the attacking Klingon ships' shields go down and the ships are promptly destroyed. From above the simulator room, a technician asks how Kirk was able to beat this test. Spock, who is in the observation room, is equally puzzled.

Spock at Kirk's hearing at Starfleet Academy

During an official inquiry, the Starfleet Academy brass, namely AdmiralRichard Barnett, informs Kirk that they have received evidence that Kirk entered a subroutine into the computer making it possible for him to win in the simulation, and accuse him of cheating. While Kirk faces his accuser, Spock, and tries to defend himself, the hearing is suddenly interrupted when the committee is informed that the Federation has received a distress call from Vulcan. With the primary fleet occupied in the Laurentian system, Starfleet is forced to commission the Academy cadets and dispatch ships immediately to begin a rescue mission.

Cadets are assigned to ships based on their aptitude, with the most capable cadets assigned to the USS Enterprise, a ship completed so recently that it hasn't even been christened yet. Uhura is originally assigned to the USS Farragut, but complains directly to Spock, citing her numerous commendations and recommendations, insisting she had earned an assignment to the Enterprise. Kirk has been grounded pending a ruling on his inquiry, and is not allowed to board the shuttles and join the mission. However, McCoy takes him to the medical bay, where he injects him with a vaccine, temporarily making him ill so that, as a doctor refusing to abandon his patient, he has an official reason to take him along on the mission.

Kirk and McCoy on the shuttle to spacedock

The Enterprise leaves the spacedock for Vulcan, after a slight delay caused by the backup helmsman, Hikaru Sulu, forgetting to disengage the "parking brake" before jumping to warp. Their orders are to investigate seismic disturbances and aid in evacuation of the planet if necessary. After hearing the announcement, Kirk suddenly realizes that the "lightning storm" is exactly the same occurrence the Kelvin encountered two decades earlier. Realizing that they are running straight into a trap, Kirk rushes through the ship to Uhura despite suffering a bad reaction to the vaccine McCoy gave him. Despite his initial difficulty to communicate coherently, he finally manages to ask her about the Klingon distress call she had deciphered earlier and she confirms that the attackers were Romulan.

At Vulcan, the Narada has lowered a drill platform, which is drilling into the planet. Ayel notifies Nero that seven Starfleet vessels are approaching. Kirk rushes to the bridge to inform Captain Pike. Pike and Spock, though initially quite skeptical, are convinced after Uhura confirms Kirk's suspicion. As they disengage warp drive, the Enterprise finds itself in a debris field of the other seven Starfleet ships which arrived shortly before they did. At the direction of Pike, Sulu is able to navigate his way through the debris with minimal damage. As they clear the debris, they come upon the Narada, drilling above Vulcan's atmosphere. The Narada attacks the Enterprise, which takes heavy damage. But just as they are about to fire again, Nero realizes which ship he is firing at and orders a cease-fire.

He hails the Enterprise and casually identifies himself. Pike, seeing a Romulan, accuses him of an act of war and offers to reach a settlement, but Nero states he stands apart from the Romulan Star Empire. He openly greets a confused Spock, and orders Pike to come aboard via shuttlecraft. Pike asks if there are any advanced hand-to-hand combat-trained officers on the bridge, and gathers Sulu, Spock, and Kirk for the away mission.

Pike promotes Spock to captain and puts him in charge of the Enterprise. He also commissions Kirk as first officer, much to Spock's chagrin. Pike outlines his plan to do two things at once: on the shuttle en route to the Narada he will drop Kirk, Sulu, and Chief EngineerOlson into an orbital skydive. They will land on Narada's drill platform and disable it in order to contact Starfleet, since the drill has disabled communications and transporter capabilities.

The massive Narada looms over the Enterprise above Vulcan

Sulu sword-fights on the Romulan drill platform

Pike arrives on the Narada as the three begin their descent and, despite the immediate death of Olson, Kirk and Sulu eventually manage to fire on the drill and disable it.

A Narada crewman reports the drill's incapacitation, but tells Nero that the drill reached Vulcan's core before going offline. Nero orders the launch of the "red matter", which is dropped from the ship down the hole and explodes at the planet's core. Chekov discovers what the "red matter" is doing: creating a black hole in the middle of the planet. Vulcan will be destroyed in a matter of minutes. Spock leaps up from his chair, ordering the Enterprise to signal an evacuation of the entire planet, while he himself hurries to the transporter room to beam down and evacuate the Vulcan Council, which includes his parents.

Spock beams onto Vulcan as it collapses

Spock attempts to save the Vulcan elders and his parents

The beginning of the end for Vulcan

Uhura comforts Spock after the loss of Vulcan and his mother

Kirk signals the Enterprise to beam him and Sulu back, but that is the moment when Nero orders the Narada to retract the drill and leave orbit. The jolt causes Sulu to fall off the drill platform without a chute. Kirk leaps off the platform into a controlled dive and grabs Sulu before releasing his own chute. Unfortunately, the drag is too powerful and Kirk's harness tears loose. Kirk frantically signals the Enterprise to beam them up, but the transport chief cannot lock on to them while they are moving too fast. Chekov, however, can, and rushes to the transporter room, creating a pinpoint beam that snatches Kirk and Sulu aboard mere moments before they hit the surface.

Right after Kirk and Sulu are beamed back aboard, Spock tells Kirk that he is beaming down to save the Vulcan Council, which includes Spock's parents. Kirk tries to stop him but he ignores Kirk and orders the transporter chief to beam him down immediately. The council members were taking refuge in the katric ark, a chamber within Mount Seleya, which they could not simply beam through. Two of the elders in the council are killed by falling rocks and statues, but Spock is able to get five of them outside, including his parents. As the transporter is about to pick them up, the rock his mother is standing on collapses, causing the transporter to miss her. As they re-materialize on board the Enterprise, Spock stands on the transporter pad in shock, having lost his mother, with his hand still reached out to her. The Enterprise crew retreats and watches in horror as Vulcan implodes into oblivion.

"Acting Captain's Log, Stardate 2258.42. We have had no word from Captain Pike. I therefore classified him as a hostage of the war criminal known as Nero. Nero, who has destroyed my home planet and most of its six billion inhabitants. While the essence of our culture has been saved in the elders who now reside upon this ship, I estimate that no more than ten thousand [Vulcans] have survived. I am now a member of an endangered species."

Kirk, Sulu, and the few Vulcans who were able to be brought aboard the Enterprise are brought to sickbay for treatment. Soon after, Spock leaves the bridge, and he is followed into the turbolift by Uhura who tries to comfort him.

Nero asks Pike for the security codes to defense systems around Earth, but Pike refuses to give them to him, disgusted by Nero's act of genocide on Vulcan. Nero speaks about how the Narada, in his time, was a mining ship, and he was laboring to support his wife, who was expecting his child, before they were killed when Romulus was destroyed. He placed blame on the Federation for doing nothing, and accused Spock of betraying them, promising himself retribution. Pike pleads that Romulus still exists, but Nero only knows that his world – the Romulus of the future – was destroyed, and he intends to destroy every world of the Federation, starting with Earth, so that others will know his pain. Forcing a Centaurian slug down Pike's throat, which will help coerce Pike to give out the security codes, Nero orders the Narada to continue to Earth.

On the bridge of the Enterprise, Spock reasons that the Narada must have traveled back in time from the future. He states that they must regroup with the fleet, but Kirk says that in order to stop Nero they must go after him first. This culminates in an argument which ends in Spock ordering Kirk's removal from the bridge. When Kirk physically protests, Spock incapacitates Kirk with a Vulcan nerve pinch, orders him placed in an escape pod and jettisons him off the ship. Kirk awakens to find himself on the snow-covered world of Delta Vega, another planet in Vulcan's system. Picking up his gear, Kirk heads for the Starfleet station fourteen kilometers away.

"Stardate 2258.42... four uh, four, whatever. Acting Captain Spock has marooned me on Delta Vega, in what I believe is a violation of Security Protocol 49.09 governing the treatment of prisoners on board a starship."

Kirk is marooned on Delta Vega

He is chased down by a "drakoulias" which is in turn attacked by an even larger insectoid animal. It chases Kirk into a cave, and when it finally attaches a tendril to catch him, trying to consume him, it is spooked off by an elderly Vulcan man wielding a lit torch. Before he can thank his savior, the old man, who had recognized Kirk on sight, reveals himself to be Spock, Kirk's old friend, but the latter is skeptical – until the former identifies Nero as Pike's captor. Spock melds with Kirk so that he can understand why he is here. He explains that 129 years in the future, in the year 2387, an impending supernova of a star threatened to destroy the home worlds of the Romulan Star Empire and, potentially, the rest of the galaxy as well. Spock developed a stockpile of "red matter", a substance that can be ignited to form a singularity. However, the star exploded while he was en route, and Romulus was destroyed. Spock launched the red matter from his ship, the Jellyfish, to prevent further damage. Immediately, Spock was confronted by a surviving Romulan mining vessel, the Narada, captained by Nero. Spock tried to escape, but the resultant black hole captured both the Jellyfish and the Narada, creating a disturbance in the space-time continuum sending both ships into the past. The Narada exited over one hundred and fifty years in the past, where it confronted the Kelvin. Spock's ship entered moments later, but what appeared seconds to him, were twenty-five years after the Narada had entered. He explains that Nero captured his ship, but kept him alive, marooning him on Delta Vega, so that he could witness the destruction of his own home planet, Vulcan, just as he had to witness the destruction of Romulus.

Ambassador Spock, time traveler

Kirk explains he was left on the planet by the Spock he knows, who is currently in command of the Enterprise. The elder Spock is surprised, knowing that Kirk should be in command of the ship. It is then that Spock realizes that when Nero exited the black hole and confronted the Kelvin, he altered history and created an alternate reality, which changed everything, especially Kirk's life. Kirk asks Spock whether his father lived in the original timeline. Spock confirms that George Kirk proudly saw his son take command of the Enterprise, and often spoke of him as his inspiration to join Starfleet. Spock leads Kirk to the Starfleet base.

Kirk and the elder Spock are met by a short alien officer, Keenser, who leads them inside, where they meet this timeline's Montgomery Scott. A transporter genius, Scotty was "exiled" to Delta Vega after beaming AdmiralArcher's prized beagle to an unknown location during a failed experiment in "transwarp beaming". Spock informs Kirk that he must relieve the Vulcan's younger self of command by provoking him and showing everyone that Spock is too personally and emotionally compromised to lead the mission and captain the ship. Giving Scotty the formula for "transwarp beaming" – an operation originally devised by the Scotty he knew – Spock, who had responded to Kirk's suggestion that he was now "cheating" by recalling the "old friend" who had taught him how to cheat, sends Kirk and Scotty back to the Enterprise. Not too long after they are transported to the Enterprise (Scotty had materialized in a water tank and nearly drowned), the two are spotted and eventually captured by security personnel – led by the very cadet who had started the bar brawl which led to Kirk joining Starfleet.

Spock attacks Kirk

The Enterprise crew regards Spock when he returns to the bridge

They are taken to the bridge where an astounded Spock attempts to find out how the two were able to transport on board the ship while it was in warp. Kirk refuses to answer and recommends Scotty do the same, and then proceeds to ask why Spock doesn't feel any anger or have any emotion over the destruction of his planet and the murder of his mother. He keeps pushing and provoking Spock, claiming he never loved his mother. Upon hearing this accusation, Spock finally snaps and lunges after Kirk, ruthlessly beating and strangling him to the point of nearly killing him, before Sarek begs Spock to stop. Realizing how far he has gone, Spock relieves himself of duty and leaves the bridge. Kirk assumes command and orders an immediate pursuit of the Narada.

Following his outburst, Spock returns to the transporter room, where Sarek tries to get Spock to open up to him. Spock admits to feeling conflicted, and feels a rage he cannot control towards Nero over the death of his mother. Sarek offers that his mother would have said not to bother controlling it, and, recalling what he had said years before after another outburst of his son's Human side, sadly admits to his son that he married Amanda because he loved her. Meanwhile, on the bridge, Chekov figures out a plan to get the Enterprise close to the Narada without them noticing: they can follow the Narada and stop at Titan's orbit, remaining undetected by hiding in its magnetic field. Soon after, a cooled-off Spock returns to the bridge, confirms the logic of Chekov's plan, and offers to beam over to the Narada to get the "black hole device" and save Earth, the only home he has left. Kirk says he will go as well, to rescue Pike. Spock mentions regulations against the captain and first officer going on such a mission, but chooses not to cite something he knows Kirk will ignore. Kirk quips that they are finally getting to know each other and gives Spock a friendly slap to the back.

The drill is activated

The Romulan ship arrives at Earth and deploys its drilling rig directly over San Francisco. Warping into Titan's atmosphere, the Enterprise remains undetected by the Narada. Before stepping onto the transporter pad, Kirk calls the bridge, telling Sulu that, if he believes the Enterprise can destroy the Narada, even if Kirk, Spock and Pike are still aboard, he should not hesitate to take the opportunity. Sulu reluctantly acknowledges Kirk's order. Before they beam over, Uhura kisses Spock and tells him that he better come back. In his reply, he calls her "Nyota." Kirk, who overheard, then asks Spock if that's the first name he had tried and failed to learn since the first time he met her; Spock coyly cuts him off, stating his refusal to comment on the matter. Right after they are beamed aboard, the Narada begins to drill its hole near the Golden Gate Bridge, cutting the ship off from the Enterprise.

Kirk leaps away from Nero on the Narada

Scotty thought he would be beaming Kirk and Spock to the Narada's cargo bay, but it turns out to be a heavily occupied portion of the ship. After a brief firefight, Spock uncovers the location of the black hole device and Captain Pike by melding with an unconscious Romulan. When they board the Jellyfish, it recognizes Spock as its captain (at which Kirk sarcastically expresses surprise), and the Vulcan finally figures out what is going on, as the ship's computer confirms its origin stardate as 2387, constructed by the Vulcan Science Academy. Spock confronts Kirk about withholding information from him, but Kirk dodges the question by asking Spock if he can fly the spacecraft, a question he is fairly confident Kirk already knows the answer to. For the first time, Spock calls Kirk, "Jim" and informs him that their chances of success are grim by citing his calculation of their odds, but Kirk assures him that their plan will work.

As Spock commandeers the Jellyfish and blasts out of the Narada, Kirk runs into more trouble as he finds the Romulans' "bridge", where Nero and Ayel are waiting. Kirk is confronted by Nero, who has recognized him from Earth's history, and after a brief scuffle, Nero pins Kirk and tells him that, while he was a decorated officer and went on to captain the starship Enterprise, that was another life, and that he plans to deprive him of the same life his father once had. Before he can finish Kirk off, however, Nero is informed that the Jellyfish has been stolen and the drill has been destroyed. Furious above all else, Nero storms off, leaving Kirk to Ayel while he plans to kill Spock. Ayel promptly grabs Kirk by the throat and lifts him in the air, surprised at how "weak" Humans appear to be. Seeing his prey attempting to talk, Ayel offers Kirk the chance to say something – and the Human replies that he is in possession of the Romulan's disruptor pistol. Kirk fires and kills Ayel as he plunges into the depths of the Romulan vessel. He then heads off to rescue Pike.

On the bridge, Nero hails Spock, declaring that he should have killed him when he had the chance. In reply, Spock taunts Nero by "ordering" him to surrender. Nero orders the Jellyfish destroyed, even though the ship still has "red matter" on it; with his plan for revenge ruined, now he only wants to kill Spock. The Jellyfish evades the missiles, then goes into warp, with Nero and the Narada in hot pursuit, leaving Earth behind.

When the ships drop out of warp, the Jellyfish turns to intercept and collide with the Narada, seeking to ignite the red matter and create a hole that will envelop both ships. Nero panics and orders all weapons fired, but the Enterprise arrives on the scene and destroys the missiles with a fierce volley of its phasers, allowing Spock to carry through with his plan to ram the Narada.

Inside the Narada, Kirk finds Pike, alive but injured due to his earlier torture. Pike is quite surprised, but Kirk reminds him of his previous order to "come and get me", and when two Romulan soldiers walk in and find Kirk, effectively defenseless while freeing Pike from the chamber, the captain returns the favor, grabbing the gun on Kirk's belt and killing the intruders before his rescuer even realizes what happened. Scotty successfully beams back Kirk, Pike, and Spock, right before the Jellyfish collides with the Narada.

Kirk and Spock discuss Nero's fate

The explosion of the Jellyfish ignites the entire stockpile of "red matter" on board, creating a black hole, which begins to swallow up the Narada. To Spock's surprise, Kirk offers to rescue the surviving crew, arguing that this might improve long-term relations between the Romulans and the Federation, and is thus only "logical." Spock, mindful that Nero is the man who destroyed his planet and murdered his mother, coolly suggests that they dispense with logic in this case. Their debate is ended when Nero, belligerent to the last, says he prefers to die in agony than accept help from them. Kirk obliges and orders Sulu to fire all weapons, blowing the ship apart with phasers and photon torpedoes. The Narada is finally destroyed, but the gravitational pull of the black hole begins tugging on the Enterprise, keeping it from escaping, even with its engines running at warp speed. The pressure is heavily damaging the ship as Kirk orders Scott to get them out of there at all cost. Scotty ejects the Enterprise's multiple warp cores and detonates it near the black hole, pushing the Enterprise to safety.

Spock salutes his older self from the Prime timeline

Back on Earth, the elder Spock meets with his younger counterpart, who presumed the former to be his/their father. Young Spock is confused as to why his older self didn't simply come with Kirk and explain the situation. The older Spock states that he implied there may be universe-destroying paradoxes if Kirk told him the truth so that they would have to rely on each other, thus ensuring "a friendship that will define you both, in ways you can not yet realize." Young Spock asks if he was making a gambit; older Spock states that he made "an act of faith" to his old friend, which he hopes that he will show again in the future. However, younger Spock expresses his decision to resign from Starfleet to help rebuild the Vulcan race; older Spock points out that he can be in two places at once. He also advises his younger self in this case to put aside logic and do what feels right. The older Spock then raises his hand in the familiar Vulcan salute, and, feeling it would be inappropriate to say "live long and prosper" to himself, simply wishes his younger self "good luck."

Kirk is commended by Starfleet Command, promoted to captain, and given permanent command of the Enterprise. He relieves Pike, who has been promoted to admiral and is now recovering in a wheelchair. A proud Pike shakes his successor's hand and notes that his father, too, would be very proud of Kirk. As the older Spock leaves to help the remaining Vulcans establish a colony, Kirk, now dressed in the gold uniform of a captain, walks on to the Enterprise bridge. After he tells McCoy to "buckle up", and receives assurances from Uhura, Sulu, Chekov, and Scotty (who has barely finished talking to Kirk when he finds Keenser - now a member of his engineering staff - having climbed atop a console and orders him down) that their sections are ready to depart, the younger Spock returns to the Enterprise and asks Captain Kirk if he can be his first officer, offering to provide "character references". Kirk says it would be his honor.

Space... the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Her ongoing mission: to explore strange new worlds... to seek out new life forms and new civilizations... to boldly go where no one has gone before.

"Acting Captain's Log, Stardate 2258.42. We have had no word from Captain Pike. I therefore classified him as a hostage of the war criminal known as Nero. Nero, who has destroyed my home planet and most of its six billion inhabitants. While the essence of our culture has been saved in the elders who now reside upon this ship, I estimate that no more than ten thousand [Vulcans] have survived. I am now a member of an endangered species."

"Stardate 2258.42... four uh, four, whatever. Acting Captain Spock has marooned me on Delta Vega, in what I believe is a violation of Security Protocol 49.09 governing the treatment of prisoners on board a starship."

"I must decline."
"No Vulcan has ever declined admission to this academy!"
"Then, as I am half Human, your record remains untarnished."

- Spock and the Vulcan Science Council Minister, who had just complimented him on overcoming the "disadvantage" of having a Human parent

"I'm impressed. For a moment there, I thought you were just a dumb hick who only had sex with farm animals."
"Well... not only."

- Uhura and Kirk, discussing xenolinguistics

"Oh relax, cupcake – it was a joke."
"Hey, farmboy! Maybe you can't count, but there are four of us and one of you!"
"So get some more guys, and then it'll be an even fight."

- Kirk and a Starfleet cadet, before a fight breaks out

"You know, your father was captain of a starship for twelve minutes. He saved eight hundred lives, including your mother's – and yours. I dare you to do better."

- Pike, to Kirk

"Space is disease and danger, wrapped in darkness and silence."
"Well, I hate to break it to you, but Starfleet operates in space."
"Yeah, well, I got nowhere else to go. The ex-wife got the whole damn planet in the divorce – all I got left is my bones."

- McCoy and Kirk

"I don't believe in no-win scenarios."

- Kirk, at his hearing

"Who was that pointy-eared bastard?"
"I don't know – but I like him."

- Kirk and McCoy, after meeting Spock for the first time

"You call this a favor?!"
"Yeah, you owe me one."

- Kirk, "vaccinated", and McCoy

"No, I'm assigned to the Enterprise."
"... Yes, I believe you are."

- Uhura and Spock, after Uhura makes her case for reassignment from the Farragut

- Spock Prime, identifying the Human he just rescued, and a very surprised Kirk

"I don't know you."
"I... am Spock."
"Bullshit."

- Kirk and Spock Prime, meeting for the first time on Delta Vega

"Are you out of your Vulcan mind? Are you making a logical choice sending Kirk away? Probably. But the right one? You know, back home we have a saying: If you're gonna ride in the Kentucky Derby, you don't leave your prize stallion in the stable."
"A curious metaphor, doctor, as a stallion must first be broken before it can reach its potential."

"Are you afraid or aren't you?"
"I will not allow you to lecture me on the merits of emotion."
"Then why don't you stop me?"

- Kirk and Spock

"I like this ship! You know, it's exciting!"

- Scott, after Spock relinquishes command

"Well, congratulations, Jim – now we've got no captain and no goddamn first officer to replace him!"
"Yeah, we do."
"What?!"
"Pike made him first officer."
"You gotta to be kidding me!"

- McCoy, Kirk, and Sulu, after Spock relinquishes command

"I sure hope you know what you're doing... captain."
"So do I."

- Uhura and Kirk, after he takes the captain's chair

"My mother was Human – which makes Earth the only home I have left."

- Spock

"I would cite regulation, but I know you will simply ignore it."
"See? We are getting to know each other!"

- Spock and Kirk, before boarding the Narada

"So her first name's Nyota?..."
"I have no comment on the matter."

- Kirk and Spock, after the former finally learns Uhura's first name

"You'll be able to fly this thing, right?"
"Something tells me I already have."

- Kirk and Spock, aboard the Jellyfish

"James T. Kirk was considered to be a great man. He went on to captain the USS Enterprise, but that was another life. A life I will deprive you of, just like I did your father!"

- Nero, as he chokes Kirk

"You can't even speak!... What?"
"I got your gun!"

- Ayel and Kirk

"What're you doing here?"
"Just following orders."

- Pike and Kirk, who had been told to "come and get me"

"It's logic, Spock – I thought you'd like that."
"No, not really. Not this time."

- Spock and Kirk, after Kirk offers to help Nero escape certain death

"I would rather suffer the end of Romulus a thousand times. I would rather die in agony than accept assistance from you."
"You got it. Arm phasers – fire everything we've got."

- Nero and Kirk, before the Enterprise destroys the Narada

"Thrusters on full."

- A proud Spock Prime, after watching Kirk being promoted to captain of the Enterprise

"Bones! Buckle up!"

- Captain James T. Kirk as he steps onto the bridge of the Enterprise

"Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Her ongoing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new lifeforms and new civilizations; to boldly go where no one has gone before."

Development on Star Trek began in 2005 when Paramount contacted Roberto Orci (who was working with J.J. Abrams and Alex Kurtzman on the studio's Mission: Impossible III at the time), asking for ideas on how to revive the franchise. [1]

Several days later, Abrams confirmed some parts of the report while denouncing others, stating that the announcement was an unofficial leak and was "'not entirely accurate." He also stated that, while he was given the option to direct the film, he had not decided to do so at that time. [3][X]wbm He ultimately announced his decision to direct on 23 February2007.

Fans got an official look at the movie's direction when Paramount released a poster for the new film on 22 July2006: the teaser bore the Enterprise crew uniform insignia from the original series, against a background half command gold and half science blue. It hinted at a film to be set in the 23rd century which might feature the legendary Enterprise herself. The poster was designed by the film's director/producer, J.J. Abrams. [4]

The film was greenlit in late February, at which time pre-production officially began. [5] Paramount's press release on 27 February2007 confirmed that production was under way, with Abrams directing, for a target premiere date of Christmas Day 2008. [X]wbm According to The Wrap, before Abrams signed up to direct the film, Paramount offered the position to Sam Raimi, the director of the Evil Dead and Spider-Man films. [6]

By 3 May 2007, some of the art department – still being filled by production designer Scott Chambliss – were already working, mostly from home; offices on the Paramount lot weren't finished before mid-May. [7][8]

Sound stage set construction began in September. Most design work was complete by 12 October 2007. The budget was estimated between US$120 to $150 million, higher than any prior Trek film. [9]

The original treatment for the film (the initial story outline) was completed in August. By the 24th of that month, writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman had begun working on a first draft of the screenplay, which was completed by 12 December 2006. [10] A second final draft was complete by 8 October 2007. [11][12] In total, the script took approximately four months to write. The final script was about 128 pages long. [13]

In an interview posted 8 March2007, the writers stated that the "intended title" for the film was always simply Star Trek, without any colons or subtitles. [14] This was to encourage newcomers that they didn't have to watch any other film before it. [15]

The writers said that their goal was for the film to appeal not just to Trek fans, but to new audiences as well. [18][19] They hoped to bring the feel of the original Star Wars trilogy into the movie, since Abrams has often said he's more a fan of Star Wars than Star Trek. [20]

Scenes featuring Kirk's former CO, Garrovick, and Kirk's service under Garrovick aboard the USS Farragut are not in the film as first reported. These elements, which were included in early drafts of the script, were removed in rewrites. [21] The character of Carol Marcus was also included in early drafts of the script, but she did not make it into the shooting script, either. [22]

Rumors that the film's story involved the Guardian of Forever from the classic episode "The City on the Edge of Forever" prompted the episode's writer, Harlan Ellison, to demand compensation if elements from his story were used in the film. [23][24] The rumors ultimately turned out to be false. The script does, however, reference several elements from the original series episode "Journey to Babel" among these Spock's mother recalling when he was taunted by Vulcan boys during his youth, Sarek's recollection of how Spock turned down appointment to the Vulcan Science Academy, and Spock's conversation with Sarek at the end of the episode discussing why Sarek married Amanda (Sarek replying: "At the time it seemed the logical thing to do").

According to Roberto Orci, the most difficult characters to write for were the film's villain (Nero) and James T. Kirk. [25] One resource which Orci and Kurtzman utilized during the entire writing process was this website, Memory Alpha. The writers also occasionally referenced Memory Alpha during the film's production. [26]

Even though this film takes place in an alternate timeline, Orci has stated that any canon changes made in this timeline will not affect the former timeline, arguing that the scientific theory of quantum mechanics permits the existence of parallel timelines and universes, invoking the thousands of Enterprises from various universes seen in TNG: "Parallels" to back up this theory. He also believes that this theory allows for the continuance of a timeline even after a change is effected and an alternate timeline is created. In addition, he argues that, although the timeline has changed, the true nature of the characters does not change and that Kirk and company are the same people they are in the original timeline. [27]

The film's production was designed by Scott Chambliss. Ryan Church was the primary designer of the USS Enterprise and other starships, while Trek veteran John Eaves designed the various shuttlecraft. Excepting the Industrial Light & Magic staffers, who had previously worked on the Star Trek franchise and were still in the employment of the company at the time, Eaves was the only regular production staffer who had worked on Star Trek productions, set in the prime universe, to be officially hired and credited for the re-imagined movie as conceptual illustrator (though there were a few uncredited others such as Graphic Designer Geoffrey Mandel). While Abrams steered clear from hiring any former Star Trek staffers in order to be as unencumbered as possible for his take on the franchise, he was aware that some consistency needed to be observed, or as Chambliss has put it, "I brought John in because he knew the story and lore, what should and shouldn't be done. The ships in the Starfleet Armada to go to Vulcan were influenced by John's knowledge." (Star Trek - The Art of the Film, p. 58)

J.J. Abrams stated the difficulty of depicting the future was that much of modern technology was inspired by the original series, making it seem outdated. As such, the production design had to be consistent with the television series while also feeling more advanced than the real world technology developed after it. [28] Specifically, he felt that the original series had a "kitschy quality" to it which had to be abandoned for the sake of realism. [29]

According to production designer Scott Chambliss, redesigning the Enterprise and especially the main bridge began with laying out a framework of ground rules: the sets had to reflect the optimism of the original series, while also having a real functionality to them. "There was a strong, sleek, modernist vision at play in the 1960s when the television series began," says Chambliss. "That was something we wanted to infuse in our look." As such, the Enterprise draws inspiration from the work of Pierre Cardin and the sets from the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. (Production notes)

Chambliss maintained the layout of the bridge from the original series, but added more consoles and glass data displays to increase its functionality and make it more "busy." He also altered it aesthetically, with brighter lights and colors. The main viewscreen was turned into a window that could have images projected on it to make the space environment palpable. The bridge set was built on gimbals so the ship's rocking motions when it was attacked or when it accelerated to warp were more realistic. More railings were added to the bridge set to make it appear safer. [30][31]

The Romulan ship, the Narada, was designed as purely practical with visible mechanics, as the Romulans were on a very specific mission, unlike the Enterprise crew, who give a respectable presentation on behalf of the Federation. [32] In designing the Narada, Chambliss was heavily influenced by the architecture of Antoni Gaudí, who created buildings that appeared to be inside out: by making the ship's exposed wires appear like bones or ligaments, it would create a foreboding atmosphere. The ship's interior was made of six pieces that could be rearranged to create a different room, thus allowing the production to utilize a single stage for the set. (Production notes)

Different art directors were responsible for the sets of each ship: Dennis Bradford was responsible for the Federation starship sets (the Enterprise and the Kelvin); Gary Kosko handled all the Vulcan-related sets; and Curt Beech oversaw the shuttlecraft sets. They were all supervised by Keith P. Cunningham, who ensured everything was organized and running properly. (Production notes)

Bobbitt collaborated with engineers at Nokia to redesign the original communicator, creating a US$50,000 prototype. For the tricorder, Bobbitt brought the original prop to the set, but the actors found it too large to carry when filming action scenes. Bobbitt then approached technical advisor Doug Brody, who redesigned a smaller version of the prop. [33] The phaser props maintained the basic shape of the original props, but were designed with spring-triggered barrels that revolve and glow blue and red as the setting switches from "stun" to "kill".

A tribble can be seen in the film, sitting in a cage on Scotty's desk in the Delta Vega outpost. [34] The production made use of the Aptera Typ-1, a prototype electric vehicle. The Aptera was used on location at the CSUN campus, which was standing in as part of Starfleet Academy. [35][36][37]

Abrams selected Michael Kaplan to design the costumes because Kaplan had not seen any of the films, meaning he would approach the costumes with a new angle. For Abrams, "The costumes were a microcosm of the entire project, which was how to take something that's kind of silly and make it feel real. But how do you make legitimate those near-primary color costumes?" [38]

Kaplan used the Star Trek Encyclopedia to get a sense of the evolution of the Starfleet uniforms and to look for repeated motifs. (Production notes) For the Enterprise uniforms, Kaplan followed color coding used on the original series. The uniforms were comprised of dark gray (almost black) undershirts and pants and colored overshirts showing each crew member's position. Kaplan wanted the shirts to be more sophisticated than the originals and decided to have the Starfleet emblem patterned on them. [39]

When designing the uniforms for the crew of the USS Kelvin, Kaplan drew inspiration from the retro-futuristic designs of 1940s and 1950s science fiction films. For the Romulans on the Narada, Kaplan wanted worn and rugged clothes because of their mining backgrounds. He found some aged, greasy-looking fabrics at a flea market, and commissioned the makers of the clothes (who were based in Bali) to create his designs using their fabrics. For the Vulcans, Kaplan designed costumes which shared the eloquent and austere qualities of the Vulcans themselves, while creating a new, corseted shape for the Vulcan women. (Production notes)

The Vulcan and Romulan makeup was created by Joel Harlow, while Barney Burman designed and created the prosthetic makeup for other alien characters. Mindy Hall was the head of the makeup department. Both digital and physical makeup was used for aliens.

Burman and his team had to rush to create many of the aliens. Originally, the majority of the aliens were to feature in one scene towards the end of filming. However, Abrams deemed the scene too similar to the cantina sequence in Star Wars and decided to pepper aliens throughout the entire film, requiring Burman and his crew to design the aliens earlier than anticipated. [40]

The Romulan characters in the film were all bald to better distinguish them from the Vulcans, and their heads and faces are covered with tattoos. They lack the forehead ridges that were seen on Star Trek: Enterprise and in the TNG-era series and films. The Romulan actors spent two and a half to four hours getting their makeup done; the actors had three prosthetics applied to their ears and foreheads, while Eric Bana had a fourth prosthetic for the bite mark on his ear that extends to the back of his character's head. [41][42]

This is the first of any Star Trek production to re-cast the regular characters of a Trek series and both William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy were given consultation rights for the recasting of their roles. [43] Casting for the film began as early as October 2006. [44]

Star Trek has Leonard Nimoy portraying his iconic role of Spock for the first time since 1991. He came out of retirement to assume the role, having given up acting in favor of photography in 2000. He later gave three explicit reasons for doing this project: the fact that it is Star Trek, his admiration for Abrams, and an "essential" and "interesting Spock role". [45] Abrams has stated that the casting of Nimoy is "critical if we're going to look at reintroducing these characters", noting that, to make this a "great film", it must "both please the fans and those who have never seen Star Trek... having Leonard in the film shows that this film exists in a continuum of Trek history, as opposed to an absolute, page 1 reinvention." [46]

The first actor cast in the new film was Heroes star Zachary Quinto, who plays the younger Spock. His casting, and that of Nimoy, was officially announced at San Diego's Comic-Con International on 26 July2007. Quinto also signed up to play Spock in any potential sequels to this film. [47] The last recast member of the original series crew to sign on was Karl Urban as Leonard McCoy. [48] Rehearsals were held week of 19 October 2007. [49]

On 10 December 2008, Variety announced that Majel Barrett-Roddenberry reprised her role as the voice of the Enterprise computer. [50][51] This announcement came just eight days before Barrett's death at the age of 76.

April Webster and Alyssa Weisberg oversaw the casting of the principal actors. Hollywood Operating System (Hollywood OS) and Headquarters Casting (HQC) were the agencies working in conjunction to hire extras for the film. They held an open casting call for extras on 10 November 2007, an event which hundreds attended, numbers that haven't been seen since Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979. [52]

In November 2009, Wil Wheaton, who played Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation, confirmed that he provided the voice for the minor Romulan characters who spoke in the movie. His dialog was altered to make him sound different each time, with one exception: the Romulan towards the end of the film who tries to warn Nero about igniting the red matter aboard Spock's ship had Wheaton's normal voice. [53][54]

As the buzz around the film was building and word spread that the characters of the original Star Trek series were to be recast, rumors as to who would play the younger versions of these iconic characters also arose while a number of actors reportedly expressed interest in participating in the film.

J.J. Abrams' childhood friend Greg Grunberg expressed interest in playing a Klingon, Scotty, or a Vulcan. [55][56][57][58][59] Although he was to have appeared in the film, Grunberg bowed out to star in, produce and co-write another film. [60] However, he did manage to acquire a role in the film during post-production, as the voice of James Kirk's step-father.

Actor Matt Damon was rumored as Captain Kirk, even soliciting William Shatner's aid in signing him up. [61] Damon himself denied having been approached for the role, [62] although he later told Sci-fi Wire that he would be interested in playing a young Captain Kirk if the script met with his satisfaction. [63] In March 2007, Kurtzman, although not confirming that Damon will play Kirk, stated that he was "the hugest Matt Damon fan. If he became [Kirk], great." [64] In a subsequent interview with IGN, Damon stated that the filmmakers were looking for someone younger than Damon. [65] In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, J.J. Abrams said he had approached Damon to play Kirk's father, but ultimately it didn't work out. [66]

Mike Vogel was a contender for the role of Kirk before the role went to Chris Pine. [67][68]

Sources reported that Academy Award-winner Philip Seymour Hoffman may have a role in the film, possibly as a doctor (but not "Bones" McCoy). [82]

There was a rumor that the new James Bond, Daniel Craig, was interested in a role. [83]

Actress Jennifer Garner, who starred in Abrams' Alias television series, said she would "absolutely" sign up to appear in Star Trek if she were asked. [84] Garner later expressed interest in showing up as a Klingon, even if it was just a quick walk-on role. [85]

Abrams thought it would "be awesome" if he were able to cast his Felicity and Mission: Impossible III actress Keri Russell as a Klingon. [86] Russell later told IESB that she was indeed in talks for a role in Star Trek but she and Abrams had decided not to go through with it. [87]

Ben Affleck was rumored to have been approached for a role in the film. [90]

Abrams' Mission: Impossible III star and producer, Tom Cruise, was frequently rumored to have a cameo in the film. He was even rumored to be appearing in the film as Captain Christopher Pike. Both Cruise and his publicist have denied any involvement in the film. [91][92][93][94][95][96][97][98]

It was reported that Paramount was attempting to sign up Oscar-winner Russell Crowe to play the film's villain. [99] Crowe said he was "apparently" up for the role, but that he had yet to read anything and could not make a decision until he did. [100] Eric Bana ultimately won the role.

Starburst Magazine reported in its 356th issue that George Takei would be appearing in the film, reprising his role as Sulu in "a flash forward sequence" opposite Leonard Nimoy. This was later found to be incorrect. [103][104]

TOS actress Nichelle Nichols stated that she and J.J. Abrams discussed the possibility of Nichols making an appearance in the new film, perhaps as the grandmother of Uhura (the character she originated on TOS). Due to the writers' strike, however, her inclusion into the script was not possible. [106]

Yet another actor who expressed interest in a role was William Shatner himself. [107] In an interview with Time magazine, Shatner claimed to have been approached by Abrams for a role in Star Trek. [108] Shatner even reported several times his belief that Abrams was planning for both he and Leonard Nimoy to appear in the film, although they would have to be meaningful roles. [109][110]

Shatner learned he did not have a role in the film while discussing the script with Leonard Nimoy over the phone. [111] According to Nimoy, although Shatner did not have a role the film, Shatner was not "furious" about it as some reported. [112] The film's writers stated their wish for Shatner to be a part of the film's shoot, and the filmmakers were looking for a way to include Shatner in the film. [113][114][115][116] It was implied by Nimoy that the reason Shatner did not have a role in the script was due to the events of Star Trek Generations, which featured the death of Captain Kirk. [117] This suggested that Nimoy's scenes as Spock might have taken place in the 24th century. As it turned out, the backstory for the movie did indeed start in the late 24th century in the year 2387. Kirk's appearance and subsequent death in the 24th century occurred in the year 2371, sixteen years prior. While Shatner could theoretically have appeared as a James T. Kirk circa 2387 (as depicted in the "Shatnerverse" novels), it would have been confusing to the audience that might only know of his last screen adventure and not the subsequent ones in the novels since the novels are not canon.

In an interview with then-executive producer Stratton Leopold, the Savannah Morning News stated that "studio executives still hope to convince William Shatner to suit up as Captain Kirk one more time." [118] This contradicted previous reports stating that Shatner was the one attempting to convince Abrams and crew to find a way to put him in the movie. It is possible that the Savannah report was merely mistaken or that the line was taken out of context.

The fact that Nimoy had a role in the film and Shatner did not, disappointed Shatner. The fact also caused an uproar from some fans on forums and discussion boards. Shatner explained in later interviews that the writers had been looking for ways to include Kirk in the story, but couldn't find a way to do it without compromising the script or making his appearance feel 'forced'.

In an interview with IGN, J.J. Abrams finally put an end to the rumors by stating that William Shatner was not in the movie at all and Leonard Nimoy is the only actor from the original series who was. [119]

In another interview with AMC, Abrams admitted there was a scene written for Shatner, but he and the writers decided not to use it because "it didn't feel right" and they still had to respect canon. In addition, Shatner was vocal in his unwillingness to be involved unless he had a substantial role in the film. [120] Abrams called the omitted scene a "flashback", although co-writer Roberto Orci later stated that wasn't a technically accurate term. [121]

Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman eventually said that Shatner's scene was in the movie and then was written out in a later draft. It would have been at the very end of the movie when Spock Prime meets the younger Spock and speaks to him about the long and enduring friendship that Spock and Kirk needed to form. Spock Prime would have said "Don't take my word for it" and produced a small holographic device that would have projected a message from the elder Kirk. [122]

Principal photography began 7 November2007[123] and wrapped 141 shoot days later on 27 March2008. Second unit and VFX plate shots continued until 17 April2008, under the direction of Visual Effects Supervisor Roger Guyett. Since it was the principal photography that had been reportedly scheduled to wrap in April, writer and executive producer Roberto Orci stated:

"Well we always add a few weeks for the studio, just in case. This is a lesson we learned from Scotty... this way we can appear like miracle workers." [124]

Shooting was once set to start summer 2007 [125] before the filmmakers made clear it could actually begin in April. [126] Shooting would have started on 5 November [127] but was postponed two days.

Stratton Leopold, a collaborator of Abrams' on Mission: Impossible III, was initially unit production manager and an executive producer for the film. [128] Before filming began, however, Leopold left the production and was replaced as executive producer by Jeffrey Chernov[129] and as unit production manager by David Witz. [130]

Originally, Vic Armstrong was to coordinate the stunts for Star Trek. He was looking forward to working with Abrams again, having served as stunt coordinator on Mission: Impossible III (2006), but Joey Box was ultimately given the job. (source: Vic Armstrong)

The first three months of shooting on Star Trek took place during the 2007 writers' strike. None of the filmmakers could make any changes to the film's script during the strike period, meaning the common practice of revising the script during production was not possible. Although Abrams complained about not being able to add new dialogue, the strike for the most part did not affect the film's production. Since it was one of the studio's "high priority" films, Paramount strove to help it despite the writing stoppage. [131][132] Writers Kurtzman and Orci were able to stay on set without strikebreaking as they were also executive producers on the film. While they could not change any lines themselves, they could "make funny eyes and faces at the actors whenever they had a problem with the line and sort of nod when they had something better." [133]

Security on the set was very tight in order to keep aspects of the production a secret from the general public. Cast and crew members on location were not allowed to leave the set for cigarette breaks, [134] and actors could not walk in public in their costume – they were driven to and from set in golf carts, hidden behind black canvas. [135] Some actors, including Jennifer Morrison and Sonita Henry, were only given the part of the script containing their scenes, which they had to return at the end of the day. [136][137] The script was also protected with members of the main cast, including Simon Pegg, who had to read the script with a security guard nearby. [138]

During its production process, the film was codenamed "Corporate Headquarters". [139] This was the official fake title chosen by Bad Robot, although various other fake titles were also used throughout the production. Each of the Key Assistant Location Managers was allowed to choose an additional fake title for paperwork, permits, and signage in an effort to thwart paparazzi and to protect the secrecy of the movie: Kathy McCurdy named the movie "Untitled Walter Lace Project" after her grandfather; Rob Swenson used "Christa & Christan's Big Adventure" after his twin step-daughters; Scott Trimble used "The Ernest Castelhun Chronicles" after his great-granduncle who drowned in beer at the Anheuser-Busch factory in 1937; and Steve Woroniecki named it "Untitled Blake Allen Project" after his son.

The wrap party was held on 18 April 2008 at Hangar 8 at the Santa Monica Airport between 7:00 pm and midnight. The invitation featured the note, "Please note that due to heightened security, you must R.S.V.P. in order to have your name placed on the guest list. Your photo I.D. will be required at the entrance." (Source: Jon Donahue via Facebook)

The production used a total of eleven soundstages. [142]
Most filming took place on the studio lot, specifically on stages 8, 9, 11, 14, 15, and 18. These are stages where Star Trek has filmed in the past. Plans also reportedly included use of a Universal Studios stage for "planetary" shots needing more room, [143] but that location was never used.

A source told TrekMovie.com that more ship interiors were created for this film than any other Trek film. There was also a minimal amount of redressing used. [144]

Abrams has stated that his goal with this film is to make Star Trek "real." As such, he used live sets and location shooting rather than green- and blue-screen sets wherever possible. [145] The first days of shooting occurred on location in a Long Beach building. [146] California's Vasquez Rocks was used for a birthing scene involving a number of Vulcans. Vasquez Rocks has appeared in past Trek shoots, including the original series episode "Arena". [147])

Approximately four weeks out of the twenty weeks of shooting took place on the bridge of the USS Enterprise. [148] The last day of shooting on the set of the Enterprise bridge was 25 January2008. Scenes filmed included the intended final scene of the movie. During filming on that day, TrekMovie.com hosted a live chat in which J.J. Abrams, other crewmembers, and some of the cast answered fan-submitted questions from the bridge set. A transcript of this chat included a brief glimpse of the set – the first such on-set image – showing Abrams using his laptop at one of the stations. [149]

In addition to the bridge, other areas aboard the Enterprise seen in the movie are sickbay, crew quarters, corridors, engineering, and the transporter room. All of these sets were built at Paramount Studios, with the exception of engineering, which was done on a redressed industrial location. [150] That location was later revealed to be the Budweiser beer plant in Van Nuys, California. (Production notes at StarTrekMovie.com)

The bridge of the USS Kelvin reflects an earlier design than the Enterprise and is described as "a lot busier." This bridge set was redressed for use as the mock-up starship bridge in a scene depicting the Kobayashi Maru scenario. [151] Other areas we see on the Kelvin include sickbay, engineering, and some corridors. The Romulan ship, the Narada, utilizes an interior design that is different from previously seen Romulan ships and is described as "surreal." Scenes were also filmed on sets built to represent a medical shuttle and a transport shuttle. [152]

Some scenes were shot in a large Orange County hangar. Production later returned to Long Beach for scenes at its city hall. Filming there wrapped on 14 December2007, with several city staffers invited to the shoot, all of whom signed nondisclosure pacts. [153][154]

During the week of 18 March2008, parts of the film were shot at California State University, Northridge (CSUN), with the university's Oviatt Library standing in as the lower levels of Starfleet Academy. Although blue screens were placed on the sides of the lawn, light fixtures were modified, and banners sporting the Starfleet emblem were hung on streetlights, little else was modified for the film. [155] Although it never appeared in the film, the lobby of the library was dressed with NASA and other space-related images and the main doors were emblazoned with the Starfleet emblem. There was also a "futuristic kiosk" placed in the lawn. Photos of the filming at CSUN feature dozens of extras dressed in red cadet uniforms (as well as some in more militaristic gray uniforms) as well as a futuristic-looking, functional vehicle called the Aptera. [156]

Four of the filmmakers, including production designer Scott Chambliss, first assistant director Tommy Gormley, then executive producer Stratton Leopold, and eventual second unit director Roger Guyett, scouted locations in Iceland during early Summer 2007. Despite some reports, J.J. Abrams never actually visited Iceland himself. Companies such as Pegasus-Panarctica Pictures (run by Snorri Þórisson), Sagafilm (Kjartan Thor Thordarson), Labrador (Pétur Hafsteinn Bjarnason), and Truenorth Productions (Leifur B. Dagfinnsson) vied for the opportunity to provide local production services. This would have been the first time a Star Trek movie was filmed outside of the United States. The plan was that two weeks of filming would take place there during Spring 2008, but, as it turned out, no filming whatsoever was ever done in Iceland. A location scout was also sent to British Columbia, Canada, but, in the end, the movie was filmed entirely in the United States. [157][158][159]

Many of the scenes featuring interior locations on Vulcan were filmed at the SkyRose Chapel in Whittier, California. These included the conversation between young Spock and Sarek, as well as Spock's confrontation with the Vulcan committee. [160][161]

In early April, some second unit work took place on location in Bakersfield, California, which stood in for Iowa (the birthplace of James T. Kirk). While shooting in Bakersfield – near Highway 119 – on 8 April2008, an automobile accident occurred in front of the set in which a car being driven by the location's site manager (a local official in charge of the site) crashed head-on into a truck. A passenger in the car and the driver of the truck were injured but survived, and the crash did not disrupt filming. [162][163]

The first cut of the film was completed in July 2008. This cut was screened for studio executives at Paramount Pictures sometime in the last week of July and received a very positive response. [166]

Post-production on Star Trek was completed on 23 December2008. The film spent just under nine months in the post-production process, the second longest in the franchise behind Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The final step in the process was sound editing, provided by Academy Award-winning sound designer Ben Burtt (best known for his work on the Star Wars films) and supervising sound editor Mark Stoeckinger. [167]

The film's score was written by Academy Award-winning composer Michael Giacchino. He created a new version of the original theme by Alexander Courage in the score, along with new themes he created for the film. The original theme made a comeback for the ending credits. Giacchino admitted personal pressure in scoring the film, stating "I grew up listening to all of that great [Trek] music, and that's part of what inspired me to do what I'm doing... You just go in scared. You just hope you do your best. It's one of those things where the film will tell me what to do." [168][169][170]

Finding a new musical direction for Star Trek proved challenging. "I wrote maybe 20 or so versions of the main theme and all of them sounded like Star Trek music – like big space opera music. And every time JJ and I would sit and listen to it JJ would say 'it just doesn't sound like our movie.'" Lindelof suggested Giacchino concentrate more on Kirk and Spock's friendship, and the main theme, specifically the Kirk/Enterprise theme came out of that. Spock's theme developed out of a variation of the main theme that the producers liked.[171]

The score was recorded at the Sony Pictures Scoring Stage in Culver City, California. The scoring session was comprised of a 107-piece orchestra and forty-person choir. Giacchino composed new themes for the film, some of which were stylistically created as subtle homages to past Star Trek composers, Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner. An erhu was used to create Spock's theme; the same instrument was used for the Romulans, except in their case, the sound was processed and distorted. Several members of the music department wore clothing resembling Starfleet uniforms during the scoring session. [172] The score was released by Varèse Sarabande Records on 5 May2009.

In the opening scene, a crewman on the USS Kelvin reports that the weapons are offline. However, the Kelvin is seen firing phasers and photon torpedoes a few moments later. Then, after everyone but George Kirk is evacuated, the viewscreen says "Systems Failure: Weapons, Shields".

Hikaru Sulu reveals that his advanced combat training is in fencing. Sulu was first seen fencing in TOS: "The Naked Time". Abrams later states he thought it a good idea to turn out that Sulu was in fact 'a ninja'. (Star Trek DVD commentary)

There is an established relationship between Spock and Uhura in this film. There have previously been hints of flirtation between the two characters. In "Charlie X", Uhura sings a teasing song about Spock while he plays accompanying music on the Vulcan lyre, eliciting a rare smile from him. In " The Man Trap", Uhura makes an attempt to get Spock to flirt with her, asking him to tell her she's an "...attractive young lady." The famous interracial kiss was originally to be between Uhura and Spock. [174] However, according to scriptwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, they only noticed these moments after coming up with the relationship for the film. [175]

At the end of the film, Admiral Christopher Pike is in a wheelchair. This is an allusion to Fleet Captain Christopher Pike from the original timeline who was crippled by delta radiation when a baffle plate had ruptured and then confined to an advanced wheelchair. [176] However, unlike in the original series, Pike isn't scarred or mute and may only be recovering temporarily in the wheelchair.

While taking the Kobayashi Maru test, Kirk's comic nonchalance extends to him casually munching on an apple as the Klingons attack. In the Genesis cave in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Kirk eats an apple while explaining to Saavik how he beat the Kobayashi Maru test. (In the DVD commentary on the film, it is noted that this was a coincidence.)

Dr. McCoy refers to Spock as a "green-blooded hobgoblin." In "Bread and Circuses", McCoy referred to Spock as a "pointed-ear hobgoblin." McCoy also frequently referred to Spock as "green-blooded" throughout the classic series and the films.

In order to bring Kirk aboard the Enterprise as a patient, McCoy injects a vaccine to protect against viral infection from Melvaran mud fleas. The fleas were previously mentioned in "Canamar".

On Delta Vega, Montgomery Scott mentions that he had used "Admiral Archer's prized beagle" to test his long-distance transporter theories, though the beagle had yet to turn up as of his meeting with Kirk and Spock Prime (which he speculated led to his "exile"). Writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci have confirmed that this Admiral Archer was indeed Jonathan Archer. [178][179] Jonathan Archer would be 145 years old at the time of Scotty's exile, but Humans are long-lived in Star Trek; Orci noted the appearance of Leonard McCoy in "Encounter at Farpoint". However, it is unlikely that Porthos would still be alive at that time. J.J. Abrams intends the dog to reappear upon his leaving the Star Trek films. (Star Trek DVD commentary)

When Nero discovers Spock commandeering the Jellyfish, he yells, "SPOOOOOCK!" This is likely a nod to the scene in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan where Kirk yells Khan's name in a similar fashion.

When the younger Spock approaches the pilot's seat in the Jellyfish, the location's design is that of the IDIC, a symbol of the Vulcan people. Also, in reaction to the ship's controls, Spock says "Fascinating..."

Chief Engineer Olson, who dies almost instantly on an away mission, is conspicuously dressed in a red space jump suit, a nod to the original series phenomenon of a hitherto unknown ensign dressed in red always being the first to die in any away mission. (Star Trek Special Edition DVD) Greg Ellis, who played Olson, had previously appeared on Star Trek, in the DS9 finale "What You Leave Behind", as Ekoor, one of the few Cardassians to survive the Dominion massacre.

As Kirk climbs out of the shuttle on Delta Vega, his backpack reads "NCC-1701-D." The USS Enterprise-D, commanded by Captain Picard, had this registry number.

At one point, Doctor McCoy tells Kirk that "A little suffering is good for the soul." In "The Corbomite Maneuver" Kirk asks McCoy "Aren't you the one who always says a little suffering is good for the soul?" and McCoy dryly replies "I never say that".

When Kirk first meets Scotty on Delta Vega, a tribble can be seen and heard on his desk.

Kirk emotionally compromising Spock in order to gain command of the Enterprise as he did in "This Side of Paradise".

At the end of the film, right after Spock Prime says "To boldly go where no man has gone before..." the Enterprise goes into warp speed, similar to the Star Trek: The Next Generation series opening sequence.

Several scenes appear in the shooting script that are absent from the theatrical release. [180] Some have appeared on the Star Trek DVD releases.

A scene prior to the film's opening sequence shows Spock's birth and a conversation between Amanda Grayson and Sarek.

When the Narada is disabled by the Kelvin's attack, several Klingon warbirds decloak and surround Nero's ship.

Preceding his joyride in a Corvette, scenes establish the child James T. Kirk residing with his older brother George and their uncle Frank while Winona Kirk is away. James is forced to wash the Corvette (which had in fact belonged to their late father) in a subsequent scene when, upon opening the visor above the drivers' seat, the keys fall into his lap, and he decides to steal it.

Several scenes establish that Nero and his crew were taken to Rura Penthe and had been held there for several years. It is suggested that Nero formulated his plan for destroying the Federation while imprisoned. Klingons – as all are masked, it is unclear whether or not they bear the effects of the augment virus – interrogate Nero (at one point, having realized he was from the future, theorized that he likely knows about Federation defenses, and that they might be able to work together) and torture him with a Centaurian slug (in the hopes of getting red matter technology for themselves), a tactic Nero uses later in the film. Nero attempts to endure the torture by focusing on memories of his wife. A later scene shows Nero escaping the prison planet to resume his plan (the scene used in the trailer where Nero says "The wait is over" comes as he frees Ayel). Interviews with J.J. Abrams and the Star Trek DVD commentary indicates that they didn't want to address whether the Klingons in this film would look like they did in the original series, affected by the Augment virus, or appear with forehead ridges as they did in the films and subsequent series although the helmets have the ridges on them, which is a nod toward the later look of the Klingons.

Two images from this plotline were in fact included in the final film – the last shot of the Centaurian slug sequence, looking straight down at Nero, was used to show Nero aboard the Narada when Ayel comes in and informs him that the Jellyfish is about to emerge from the black hole, while the image of a shirtless Nero at work on Rura Penthe appears during Spock Prime's mind-meld with Kirk.

The Gaila/Uhura dorm room scene and Kobayashi Maru scenario is slightly expanded to show how Kirk reprogrammed the test. After Kirk responded to "I love you" with "That's so weird", he explains that it's because he has written her a note, its contents too hard to say in person, that he needs her to open at precisely 3 pm the next day. At the appointed time, Gaila – a technician on the test – opens the letter, which reads "Gaila – I'm sorry. Jim", before downloading a virus which reprograms the scenario. (In the DVD commentary it was stated that this is why Gaila has her arms crossed during the entirety of Kirk's subsequent hearing.) Another scene includes Kirk running into and attempting to apologize to an Orion woman within the Enterprise corridors that he thought was Gaila.

In one scene, Ayel expresses the Narada crew's desire to return to Romulus following the destruction of Vulcan and suggests to Nero that the plan for destroying the Federation be abandoned. Nero declines the suggestion and kills Ayel for displaying signs of mutiny. This is noted as being a significant difference from the theatrical release, since Ayel is involved in the film's final scenes.

As Spock Prime leaves the hangar following the conversation with his younger self, he passes Sarek, whose bewildered look (similar to the one his son had upon apparently seeing Kirk aboard the Enterprise) is captured by the cameras.

The novelization of the film, written by Alan Dean Foster, shows several expanded sequences including some deleted scenes. In the novel, Winona is given an inhibitor that would help delay the birth of James until the Kelvin's return to Earth. However, the impacts to the ship by the Narada's attack cause her to go into early labor. For the scenes where she's off-planet, Kirk's Uncle Frank from a deleted scene and his step-father from the final cut are merged, as "Frank" is in fact his step-father. In several instances after Kirk is commissioned by Captain Pike, Kirk is referred to as "Lieutenant Kirk." The novel also further details Nero's motivations for attacking the Federation.

After the elder Spock is informed by young Kirk that Chekov, Sulu and Uhura all serving aboard the Enterprise – at this point not even bothering to ask if McCoy is as well – he suggests that their meeting on Delta Vega and various other coincidences regarding the Enterprise crew are the result of the timeline attempting to mend itself – as for the one person not yet aboard the ship, Spock had been well aware of Scotty's presence at the outpost, but had deliberately kept his distance, until the arrival of Kirk made it absolutely clear that their being on the same world was no accident. After the young Spock resigns command and leaves the bridge, Uhura and Sulu demand to know how Kirk got aboard the Enterprise; Kirk reveals to the bridge crew about the future Spock and what he told Kirk about Nero and how the past had been changed in an attempt to gain their trust. Kirk also tells them about how they cannot tell their Spock about the elder Spock's presence and the bridge crew agrees not to do so. At the end of the book, when the elder Spock speaks to his younger counterpart (who, upon hearing how his older self convinced Kirk to keep his secret, suggests that the would-be paradoxes were not outright impossible, but the displacement would have to have taken place far earlier for there to be any concern), the young Spock asks Spock Prime if he might call on him occasionally for advice and Spock Prime agrees, saying "Who better to consult with you than yourself?" The first mission under Kirk also includes a new passenger: Archer's dog rematerializes in the Enterprise's transporter room just as the ship warps away from the Solar System.

The novel also makes a number of small quotes and passing mentions regarding certain figures and connecting the main characters to their prime selves:

During the skill dome sequence, young Spock identifies the authors of a piece of 20th century Earth music as John Lennon and Paul McCartney, on whom Orci and Kurtzman based the Kirk-Spock relationship.

Running for his life on Delta Vega, Kirk mutters under his breath that the drakoulias resembles the "bastard offspring" of a polar bear and a gorilla, the two Earth animals which the monster was modeled after.

Noting Kirk's unfamiliarity with Regulation 619, Spock admits that he had forgotten how unimportant such things had been to "his" Kirk.

During the bridge discussion after Kirk takes command, Sulu mentions having a doctorate in astrophysics, the field of study his counterpart was in during his first Trek appearance, "Where No Man Has Gone Before".

In the midst of their battle with the Narada crew – largely a fistfight rather than a firefight – Kirk, noting that Spock displayed great logic even in combat (defeating the strongest Romulans first before moving on to the weaker ones until there were none left), concludes that he must play a "mean game" of three-dimensional chess, which Spock was in fact so skilled at that he would use the game to save Kirk's career.

The transport of Kirk, Spock and Pike from the Narada back to the Enterprise, shown almost entirely from inside the transporter room and implied to be more difficult than the film suggests, is viewed by McCoy and Uhura, allowing a mention of the doctor's well-known feelings toward the device.

Foster initially refused to do the novelization. The producers flew him to Hollywood to meet with them, the cast, and the director. After having many conversations, Foster accepted the project, rushed to meet deadlines, and had the novel ready for a December 2008 release. Star Trek writers Howard Weinstein and Robert Greenberger mentioned this at the 2009 FarPoint Convention. The novelization also appears to have been written with either a first draft or very early version of the script. Many sequences and dialogues are out of order, missing, or otherwise inconsistent with the film.

At the time production began, Star Trek was set for a worldwide theatrical release on 25 December2008. Later, Paramount was reportedly considering bumping up the film's release date one or two days or moving it to 19 December 2008. [181] On 13 February2008, however, Variety magazine reported that the film's release would be put back, from 2008 to 8 May2009, in order to take advantage of the summer movie season. [182]

Around the time the delay was announced, a Paramount spokesperson stressed that the change in release date had nothing to do with the film's production or its script. The spokesman stated that the decision was all about box-office potential and the spokesman said that Star Trek is in the same league as such past summer blockbusters as Spider-Man, Shrek, Transformers, and the Star Wars prequels. [X]wbm Paramount vice chairman Rob Moore revealed to Entertainment Weekly that another reason the movie was pushed back was so they could "educate people that this is a whole new franchise." [183]

The gala world premiere of Star Trek took place on 7 April2009 at the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia. The film's cast and crew were in attendance. [184] This was followed by a number of additional premiere events around the world – Austria; Belgium; France; Germany; Japan; Korea; the Netherlands; New Zealand; Russia; Spain; London, UK: 20 April2009[185]; Los Angeles, USA

A few hours prior to the official premiere in Sydney, fans in Austin, Texas were given a surprise screening of the film. The event had been announced as a ten-minute preview following a showing of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, hosted by writers Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and Damon Lindelof. However, after two minutes the film of The Wrath of Khan appeared to melt. Orci, Kurtzman, and Lindelof proceeded to vamp for a few minutes but were interrupted by a surprise appearance of Leonard Nimoy, who asked the audience if they would like to watch the new film instead. [186]

The official American premiere was held at the famous Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood on 30 April2009. Attending the event were J.J. Abrams, most of the film crew, and nearly the entire cast. [187]

Although the United States release date was set for 8 May2009, advance screenings of the film began at 7 pm on 7 May2009. [188] However, the first worldwide release was in France, Belgium, and the French-speaking parts of Switzerland on 6 May2009. [189]

For the first time, a Star Trek film was released in IMAX as well as conventional theaters. Although the film was not shot with IMAX cameras, the film was able to be converted to the 70 mm IMAX format. This was the first Trek project since the abandoned Star Trek: IMAX to be considered for the medium. [190][191]

Star Trek has received nearly universal acclaim from film critics. Star Trek currently has a 95% "certified fresh" rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 278 reviews, with an average critic's rating of 8.1 on a scale of 10. [192] Based on the findings of Rotten Tomatoes, Star Trek is currently the second-best reviewed mainstream film of the year after Up. [193] On the review aggregator website Metacritic, Star Trek has a metascore of 83 out of 100 based on 37 critics' reviews. [194]

Based on listings tracked by Metacritic, twenty-three critics from twelve different publications have ranked Star Trek as one of the ten best films of 2009. Among the publications whose critics have praised Star Trek as such are Boston Globe, Empire Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, Miami Herald, New York Daily News, The New Yorker, and the Washington Post. [195]

Despite the praise, some reviews criticized the lack of a classical Trek allegory. In Empire's 4/5 review, Colin Kennedy noted the themes "primarily relate to the nature of friendship and teamwork, which is all very well, [...] but in a time when the United States is engaged in two wars, the failure to even acknowledge the issues arising from space imperialism and the Prime Directive is to flinch from battle. Harsher critics may even deem it a dereliction of duty."[196]

In 2014, Empire readers ranked Star Trek at #188 in a poll to determine the 301 greatest movies of all time.[197]

Star Trek topped the North American box office in its opening weekend, grossing US$75.2 million from Friday through Sunday. It also earned an estimated US$4 million from its Thursday night advance screenings, for a total of US$79.2 million over its first three and a quarter days. [198] It marked the highest opening weekend box office gross of any film in the franchise, surpassing Star Trek: First Contact's opening weekend of US$30.7 million (approximately US$50 million when adjusted for inflation). [199]Star Trek had the sixth highest opening weekend of 2009, following The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and Avatar. [200]

Included in Star Trek's opening weekend gross was US$8.5 million from 138 IMAX venues, setting a new weekend record for IMAX. It surpassed the previous benchmark set by The Dark Knight, which earned US$6.3 million from IMAX screenings in its first weekend. (Star Trek's IMAX record was subsequently beaten by Avatar.) In addition, Star Trek yielded the most-attended start ever for a movie debuting in the second weekend of May, topping 1996's Twister. [201]Star Trek also managed to top many overseas box office charts in its first weekend, grossing US$35.5 million from 54 international markets. [202]

Star Trek ended its domestic theatrical run on 1 October2009 with a total gross of US$257,730,019, making it the seventh highest grossing film of 2009 in North America. [203] It was the year's highest-grossing film in the United States from Wednesday, 27 May, though Saturday, 27 June, a total of 31 days, after which it was overtaken by Disney/Pixar's Up (which, coincidentally, was also composed by Michael Giacchino). Star Trek has also done good business internationally, earning more from foreign markets than any previous Star Trek films (with the possible exception of Star Trek: The Motion Picture). Star Trek's international gross is US$127,950,428, bringing its total worldwide gross to US$385,680,447. [204]

Star Trek is the first film of the franchise to have won an Academy Award, the Academy Award for Best Achievement in Makeup. It also received three more Academy Award nominations. The National Board of Review named Star Trek one of the Ten Best Films of 2009.

On 30 March 2009, it was announced that Paramount was moving forward with a sequel to Star Trek. Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman have again been hired to write the screenplay, along with the first film's producer, Damon Lindelof. J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk will again be producing via Bad Robot, along with Orci and Kurtzman. [205]

At his panel during the Supernova Convention, Perth 2009 in Australia, Karl Urban unofficially announced that he had seen a work in progress version of the script for a sequel, expected in 2011, or later.

As of July 2008, Paramount has distributed several teaser posters at various conventions to promote awareness and hype about the film. The first, as stated above, was released on 22 July2007 (see early discussion and speculation above). A second teaser poster for the new film was introduced at the Comic-Con International in San Diego, California, on 27 July2007. This poster features a white background with the words Star Trek written in the TOS-style font and comprised of a star field backdrop seen throughout the original television series.

In August 2007, a third teaser poster, this one containing the title inside the arrowhead-shaped Starfleet insignia, was created especially for distribution to the attendees at the Las Vegas Star Trek Convention. As with the second teaser poster, the Vegas poster features the film's release date hyped as "Stardate 12.25.08".

A fourth teaser poster was given away to attendees at the San Francisco Wondercon on the weekend of 24 February2008, sporting the new official logo, the tagline "Under Construction", and a date of "Summer 2009".

Four teaser posters, each featuring an image of a cast member from the film (Eric Bana, Zoe Saldana, Chris Pine, and Zachary Quinto), were distributed at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con from 24 through 27 July 2008. When combined, the four posters form the delta shield emblem of the USS Enterprise (and later of all Starfleet). There is also a single one-sheet version of the poster available via mail order from Comic-Con in conjunction with the Intel Corporation. [206] Four similar posters featuring John Cho, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, and Karl Urban were distributed at the Official Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas the following month. [207]

On 10 November 2008, Paramount released the first teaser posters for the films designed for display in theaters, one featuring Pine as Kirk and the other featuring Quinto as Spock. Both posters were black and white, bearing nothing else save for the release date, the official site address, the production company logos for Paramount and Bad Robot, and the Starfleet delta shield emblem. [208]

A cardboard standup promoting the film was also made for display in theaters. The standup consists of the title in large cut-out letters, with each letter featuring the face of a different character from the film (Kirk on the "S", Nero on the "K", etc.) The title is placed upon a dais which contains the tagline ("The Future Begins"), the release date, and an orbital view of Earth. [209]

On 26 March 2009, European posters for Star Trek were posted online. [210] A day later, the US poster for the film was also revealed on MySpace Movies. The poster features the USS Enterprise within a warp effect against a white background, with the tagline "The future begins." [211]

The IMAX poster

The second teaser poster

The WonderCon poster

UK theatrical poster

UK variant theatrical poster

Spanish variant theatrical poster

German variant theatrical poster

Japanese variant theatrical poster

Star Trek poster available via mail order from 2008 San Diego Comic-Con and Intel

A promotional website dedicated to the new film went live at 8:05pm EST on 16 January2008 and can be found paramount.com/startrek here. The site introduced the new official logo for the film, which was also seen in the teaser trailer. [212] Paramount also set up a page for the movie on the social-networking website Facebook where fans may congregate. [213][214]

Following the launch of the film's teaser trailer, the official website contained a hidden link to NCC-1701.com, a viral promotional site supposedly containing "surveillance footage" of the Enterprise under construction. The site features four screens, each for a different "surveillance camera", but only three are active at a time. The inactive camera, however, will sometimes come online and, for a brief instant, reveal an image of a dark corridor. [215] The corridor actually belonged to the USS Kelvin, seen very briefly during George Kirk's brief command of the ship.

Originally located on a subdomain of Paramount.com, the official site moved on 19 February2008, its address becoming StarTrekMovie.com. On 18 July2008, the site was updated with wallpapers and icons depicting the images from the Comic-Con Star Trek posters in addition to an overall redesign of the site. [216]

The first official promotional images from the film were released on 15 October2008, at six separate movie websites. The images showed Pine, Quinto, Urban, Pegg, Saldana, and Yelchin in costume on the Enterprise bridge; Quinto and Pine; Bana in makeup as Nero; Pine on an icy planet; the USS Kelvin engaged in combat; and a view of the Enterprise bridge. [217]

On 16 October2008, TrekMovie.com released two new images, another of the Kelvin in action, and one of Cho in his role as Sulu. [218]

Yet another load of images were released on 17 October2008, when Entertainment Weekly put up more promotional pictures of Pine, Quinto, Cho, Bana, and Pine and Urban. [219]

The film's teaser trailer was completed by 30 November 2007. [220] It debuted in theaters on 18 January2008, attached to Paramount's Cloverfield which, like Star Trek, is produced by J.J. Abrams. [221]

On 21 January2008, the teaser was made available for viewing at the official site and at Yahoo! Movies. Empire Online uploaded the United Kingdom's version of the teaser that same day. Paramount made the teaser available on a wider basis on 22 January.
[222]

The teaser trailer features a glimpse of the remodeled USS Enterprise as it is being constructed, with the construction taking place in a drydock on Earth. Several sound bites recorded during the space race of the 1960s can be heard in the background leading up to a new recording of Leonard Nimoy reciting the famous line, "Space... the final frontier." The opening notes of the original Star Trek series theme music begin playing during Nimoy's voiceover and the unveiling of the Enterprise's saucer section, followed by the sound effect of the original series transporter as the lines "Under Construction" and "Christmas 2008" appear on-screen.

The teaser was shot in October, prior to the start of principal photography on the film. It was filmed on Paramount Stage 25 and also used a part of the Paramount backlot. Half of the stage was enveloped by greenscreen and greenfloor for the insertion of CGI effects, and a giant greenscreen was utilized in the backlot. The shoot involved real welding and the handling of actual welding equipment, so experienced welders were required.

The first welder seen in the teaser was played by Anthony Vitale. Vitale's scene was shot by the film's director, J.J. Abrams. This is unusual since scenes for trailers are generally directed by assistant directors. The rest of the teaser was directed by First Assistant Director Tommy Gormley, however. [223]

According to co-writer Roberto Orci, the message of the teaser is that the future as presented in Star Trek is not as far off as it once was. He also explained the logic of having the Enterprise being built on Earth rather than in space, noting that components of the ship can be built on Earth and assembled anywhere and that the Enterprise is not "some flimsy yacht that has to be delicately treated and assembled." He also feels that it makes more sense to construct the ship within a natural gravity well rather than an area that will require an artificial gravity field. In addition, Orci states that the term "Under Construction" used in the teaser is to convey both a "literal interpretation" that the movie is currently being put together and to convey the idea that the future of Star Trek may be coming soon. [224]

The production team was to begin working on the first theatrical trailer in January 2008 with the hopes to have it complete and in theaters by early or mid-summer, [225] however these plans changed once the film's release was pushed back to May 2009.

Editing on the first theatrical trailer was reportedly completed by 4 August 2008, although the visual effects to be seen in the trailer had not yet been finalized. [226] The trailer was enclosed with Quantum of Solace, the latest James Bond film, which opened in the US on 14 November2008. [227][228] It became available for viewing in high definition on the official movie site on 17 November 2008 at 10 am PST. [229]

An alternate version of the first theatrical trailer was made available for view at Ain't It Cool News on 25 November 2008. This version is the same as the original for the most part, except that the final shot of Eric Bana's Nero proclaiming "The wait is over" is placed earlier in the trailer and in its place is a shot of Leonard Nimoy as the elder Spock, giving the Vulcan salute and proclaiming the famous line "Live long and prosper." [230]

The incidental music used in the first theatrical trailer was a re-orchestration of Brian Tyler's score from Children of Dune, created by Two Steps From Hell, and titled "Down With the Enterprise". [231] The use of Tyler's score in the trailer came about from its use as a temporary scoring track in early post-production on the movie. [232]

A second theatrical trailer for Star Trek was released on 6 March2009 in front of select screenings of the film Watchmen. It was originally intended to premiere online the Monday after its release on Apple's Star Trek page, but, after an international version was released ahead of schedule, the online release was made on the same day. As with the first theatrical trailer, incidental music was provided by Two Steps from Hell, being a modified version of the track "Freedom Fighters" from their album Legend. [233][234]

In a press release, Paramount announced that the second theatrical trailer broke all existing download records at Apple.com. The HD version of the trailer had more than 1.8 million downloads during its first 24 hours on Apple.com and had over five million downloads in its first five days. This makes the Star Trek trailer the most popular HD download in the history of the site. [235]

A thirty-second trailer for the film aired during Super Bowl XLIII on 1 February 2009. It showed footage from the film not previously seen in the earlier trailers. Star Trek is the first film in the franchise to be given a Super Bowl spot, emphasizing the studio's attempts to draw in a larger audience.

A toy license was awarded to Playmates Toys, which produced action figures for the film, as well as prop toys, playsets and ship models. [237][238]Corgi's current Star Trek license covers the film, primarily for its Master Replicas brand of collectibles. [239] The company will be producing replicas of the USS Enterprise and a hand phaser. [240]

Quantum Mechanix announced in May 2009 they had secured some merchandising rights as well. The company has developed studio-scale models and 10" replicas of the ships seen in the movie, starting with the USS Enterprise. [241] They had previously been responsible for the construction of models used in the marketing campaign known as "The Enterprise Project". [242]

Burger King promoted a kids meal tie-in for this film, marking the first time Burger King has promoted a Star Trek film. [243] It was also the first time either one of the big two major fast food chains (Burger King or McDonald's) had marketed Trek since the first film's release in 1979. [244] It was revealed in 2009 that the Burger King Star Trek commercials were shot on the set of the Enterprise. Dan Mindel, the cinematographer for Star Trek, also directed photography for the commercials. [245] Alex Beh is an actor who appeared in the Burger King television commercial. [246]

Besides the Burger King deal, Paramount also signed up Kellogg's as a promotional partner to bring Star Trek movie-branded products to grocery stores. A number of Kellogg's brand products offered Star Trek merchandise and memorabilia either by mail or included within the package. Specially-marked boxes of Kellogg's cereals contained a "Beam-Up Badge" (essentially, a Star Trek-themed LED light), of which there are five different designs. Boxes of Frosted Krispies offered a red or blue Starfleet tee by mail, while boxes of Frosted Flakes and packages of Keebler cookies feature offered for a Star Trek 1GB flash drive wristband. Kellogg's various Eggo waffle products offered a 3D Warp Speed Plate by mail, and boxes of Kellogg's Pop-Tarts offered a free pass to see the film. A varying amount of tokens were needed for each mail-order product. [247]

In addition, Paramount promoted the film in collaboration with auto insurance company Esurance, communications companies Nokia and Verizon Wireless, and computer technology companies Lenovo and the Intel Corporation. All of these companies held Star Trek-related contests and sweepstakes and all included pages on their sites containing Star Trek-related content. [248][249][250] Esurance Star Trek commercials also played on television and on public radio.